


Disney High: Dragon Lady

by IncurableNecromantic



Series: Disney High AU [4]
Category: Disney - All Media Types
Genre: F/F, Longing, Other, at least for now, common sense triumphs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-07
Updated: 2012-12-17
Packaged: 2017-11-13 18:11:09
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 14,150
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/506282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/IncurableNecromantic/pseuds/IncurableNecromantic
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Maleficent has a cigar in her office and contemplates the vagaries.  More specifically, how she is going to avoid becoming a reprehensible cougar.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

It was on days like this that she proved that she should be eligible for teaching awards. If the world only know what it took to refrain from beating everyone to death with her walking stick...

As Maleficent stormed into her office, and locked the door, it took an uncommon amount of self-control to prevent herself from hurling her cane like a spear into the wall. She threw herself into her chair, rubbing her temples with the tips of her fingers and grimacing at her growing headache. The headmistress swung her legs up onto her desk, crossing her high-heeled feet.

God damn that slimy little snake! Jafar was a son of a bitch, waving his catch--her quarry!--around like that. Maleficent nearly growled. Filthy pig. 

Yet again, he’d gotten the girl. And yet again, Maleficent was on her own. Cock-blocking her was his new sport, apparently. Once upon a time, Jafar had made the sleazy comment in the faculty break room that broke the camel’s back and she’d finally lost her temper. She didn’t know how she’d managed to miss him, but later she had to tug her boot-knife out of the vinyl chair he’d been sitting in when she’d stabbed between his legs. 

The message had gotten through loud and clear, but that hadn’t resolved the problem. Instead of seeing her as a potential mark, he’d decided that they were now something like equals. He was almost likable, now that he’d been set straight, which was such a shame, because she’d much prefer to simply hate his guts. 

Although he’d wrecked her game, she had to admit that it was a welcome reprieve from something alarmingly like camaraderie to loathe him now. It was just a shame that he had to make himself detestable in a way that directly inconvenienced her. Every now and then he’d find the woman Maleficent had been scoping out and screw her in the janitor’s closet, just because he could.

That whoreson. Really, Grimhilde? And after they’d been getting along so very nicely...

Bah, a pox on them both.

Any week in which she didn’t get pussy was a bad week. Maleficent had no interest in this being a bad week. Probably she would go out tonight and pick up some disposable little thing and take her frustrations out on her. But there wouldn’t have been the build up, the temptation, the _fun_ , for God’s sake. It would be...unsatisfying. Add to that the fact that her thoughts had been so far elsewhere lately...

But no. She was not to think of the girl.

A bar pick-up would be unfortunate, but she didn’t really have a choice if she wanted to have company this evening. How she hated making-do.

Of course, anything in that line would have to wait until the end of school. She technically had to be here--woe betide her if Super Intendant Disney were to find her abandoning her post. 

Fine. She’d stay. But she was going to be in a bad mood about it.

Maleficent dug into one of her desk drawers, pulling out her tin of cigars. She snipped the tip, tore off the wrapper, and, with a dirty look at the smoke detector, snatched the bottle of Febreeze off her desk.   
As a second thought, she opened the window. Getting the sprinkler system turned on her hadn’t done anything to improve her mood last time, and she was not keen to repeat the experience.

Maleficent struck her match and puffed on her cigar until it caught. She leaned back in her seat, sucking in a mouthful of smoke and breathing out it out in a luxurious plume. In the same moment, she sprayed a puff of Febreeze at it, but she’d managed to catch the taste and the smell before the vile chemicals eradicated the cigar’s bouquet entirely. 

There...a good smoke was a balm to a bruised spirit. She felt a bit like Lauren Bacall when she had a cigar in her fingers. Glamorous and sexy, in an old-fashioned sort of way.

Some of her exes hadn’t agreed. ‘What’s a dragon lady without the smoke?’ Fae had coughed once, as they sat up in bed.

Fae hadn’t lasted long. The last time Maleficent had checked, she’d been made the godmother of Tremaine’s charity-case public school step-brat.

Good riddance.

Fae had been one in a long line of bed-warmers, neither the first nor the latest and certainly not the best. Malficent generally preferred a semi-permanent open-relationship with a beautiful, like-minded lady, to avoid the hassle of having to constantly dispose of her temporary liaisons. But bed-warmers could be fine in a pinch. The last one had been a cute little mocha-skinned beauty with prematurely white hair. She’d been such a lovely little treat, and they’d parted far more amicably than Maleficent was used to. 

She didn’t quite think she’d ever get a better temporary assignation than Mirage, and to be honest, the appeal of the week-long one-night stand was dwindling. Of course, even that escapade had been a little uncomfortable--Mirage had been ten years younger than her. Maleficent wasn’t ready to deepen that age difference. She was too young to be a cougar.

Not that her sex drive seemed to know that.

Maleficent blew out a stream of smoke, spraying the air freshener with a little noise of annoyance. One thing she wanted on the record was that she, unlike Gaston and Frollo, those nasty perverts, believed that there was such a thing as an appropriate age difference. 25 year old women were more or less fair game, if a slightly questionable, for a 35 year old woman to pursue. She was young enough to get away with it. 

Not eighteen year old girls. And certainly not cheerleaders from her academy’s rival school.

Maleficent did not make it a habit to attend the school’s sporting events. She found the atmosphere intensely unpleasant and would far rather spend her evenings engaged in loftier pursuits. But they had been losing lately--such a dreadful thing, when superior ability lost to luck--and it was thought widely that the presence of the headmistress would put a little extra drive, or at least the fear of God, into the players. 

She had a good glare, it was true. And it had been entertaining to watch field goals suddenly multiply when she stared icily at the quarterback from under the black shade of her umbrella.

Half time had come and the cheerleading squads performed their routine. Their own cheerleaders had been generally acceptable--the Bimbette triplets were very, very...flexible. Unfortunately, Tremaine’s girls had been less than worthless. They hadn’t even made good building blocks for the pyramid. Maleficent had decided to yank them, to keep them from embarrassing the school.

Then the public school cheerleaders had come out.

They were thin, athletic, very beautiful. Long hair and smiles that were too brilliant not to be genuine. Maleficent hated those girls. She could remember herself at that age, and she had been nothing like them, in their glowing perfection.

They had performed an elaborate routine, ending it in a better pyramid that the private school cheerleaders had--much as she hated to admit it--but had left the top cheerleader off. Maleficent had been briefly amused. Perhaps they hadn’t as skilled in arithmetic as she’d been led to believe.

Someone must have hidden a spring board behind the cheerleaders, because in a flash of golden hair and sun-kissed skin there tumbled over the top of the pyramid a beautiful girl. She’d alighted on top of the backs of her two team mates, the structure impossibly steady as she struck a pose, smiling gorgeously. 

The public school crowd had gone completely wild as the girl all but swan-dove off the top of the pyramid, caught by two of her companions at the bottom. The routine had become far more energetic then, all the girls dancing and jumping in unison, their glorious leader at the front. 

She had been wondrous fair, the most beautiful creature Maleficent had ever seen. She was long-limbed, full of _joie de vivre_. Her golden hair had spun in the sunlight, her rose-red lips parted in a smile of undeniable delight. She was perfect, flawless.

The others had worn sneakers. She had been bare-foot.

Somehow Maleficent had found that irresistible. 

She had sat there and stared for the rest of the game. At the end, someone must have won, certainly, and there was a fifty percent chance that it was them. That was largely irrelevant. 

She had taken herself home and poured herself a drink. She’d sat on her balcony and smoked a great deal.

Beautiful, perfect girl. She didn’t want to become curious about her, but she did. Maleficent had looked her up a little, under the admittedly flimsy pretense of wanting to have more information about the machinations of her rival school. 

The girl’s name was Aurora. How appropriate. She was eighteen--an ugly part of Maleficent grinned to read that: good, she wasn’t jailbait. Any pleasure she might’ve taken in that was destroyed when she read the names of the girl’s legal guardians.

Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. Oh, those bitches! Maleficent had taken her cigar and burnt out their names. Nothing like old sorority sisters to make life miserable. They were probably teaching the girl all about true love and waiting for her prince, and humility, and charity, and all that crock of shit.

It made Maleficent ill. 

But at least she’d known, once and for all, conclusively, that the girl was Off Limits. She was not willing to deal with her old enemies, not even to get a closer look at fair, radiant Aurora. Not that she should even be thinking about it, if she didn’t want to have to lump herself in the same category with the perverts she sneered at every day at work. Good God, an eighteen year old girl? She had to be losing her mind.

Maleficent shook her head, blowing out the last puff of her cigar and blunting it in her ashtray, spraying the Febreeze once more. She had better things to do than obsess over beautiful golden girls. She was going to get herself laid, and by a woman in her age range.

...maybe a blonde.


	2. Designated Driver

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Maleficent goes out hunting. Her quarry leaves something to be desired.

Maleficent stormed out of the Magic Carpet with a scowl marring her immaculately made-up face. It was hardly eleven o’clock at night and she was already out of options. The clubs were full of succulent, gyrating twenty-somethings who looked at her like she was a freak, when they bothered to notice her at all. This was so entirely out of her comfort zone, and it must’ve shown--she curled her lip, imagining how the stink of desperation must’ve poured off of her. She didn’t dance, and hanging back like an elegant, aloof wallflower gained her nothing in this world. 

Maleficent wasn’t shy. She’d offered to buy a few women drinks, only to be gently but unmistakably rejected. 

Leaving was the only way to maintain anything even remotely like dignity. She was not going to become one of those pitiful creatures that frantically tried to buy the approval of younger women. She’d rather slit her own throat!

Maleficent left the pounding noise of the nightclubs on the strip behind as she began to walk back towards her car. She hated this kind of world. She needed to find a new last resort. Maybe she could pick up some cute little bookworm in a library somewhere...

Good God. Picking up women in libraries was a part of her life she’d been glad to leave behind.

What exactly was wrong with her, anyway? The way those girls were sneering at her, you’d think she had warts! She knew for a fact that she was gorgeous, so what was the problem? Women should be panting after her. She should be the one getting picked up!

Instead, she doing something as sophomoric as trawling nightclubs. She was lucky her coworkers couldn’t see her like this. She winced just at the thought of Jafar’s smirk.

She hated nightclubs, really. She just couldn’t get away with being the kind of woman she was in these places--there was no room for a woman with a walking stick and a penchant for business-casual dress. In there, there was nothing but nymphs, scantily clad. And birds of a feather flocked together. Despite the appeal of the idea that opposites attracted, it was usually true that girls like that liked girls like themselves.

They had no interest in a dark, elegant, older woman.

Bitches.

Maleficent sat down on a bench, as far from a streetlight as she could manage. In front of her, long-legged silhouettes passed, short skirts and sequins catching the ambient light suggestively.

She needed something to steady her nerves. 

Holding her walking stick between her knees, she pulled out her matches and a cubanito. Two cigars in a day? Well, at least she wasn’t getting up to the way she smoked when she was in college. She’d lived in a cloud of smoke for most of those four years. 

Maleficent put her cigar between her lips and struck a match against the box. It guttered for a moment before going out, and she made a little noise of annoyance, trying unsuccessfully to strike another and cup it before it, too, was extinguished. She burned through another three matches, almost snarling as her last comfort failed her.

“Fuck,” she whispered. Usually, she wasn’t inclined to swearing--usually, she never had a need for it. But this was night to make the exception, because no matter what she did, she just couldn’t get her footing.

“Hello, lovely. Need a light?”

Maleficent’s head snapped up. The woman had a voice like honey--sugary at the start, with a low burn underneath its sweetness. In the dimness of the night, Maleficent could barely make out the shape of her short skirt and her long, long hair. She couldn’t see the woman’s face well, but the faint light gleamed off of her golden hair.

Perfect. A blonde. Maleficent felt a smirk curl her lips.

Around where the woman’s mouth must be, a little circle of red glowed. Maleficent smelled the air lightly. Cigarettes. Menthols, most likely. Not her favorite, but...well. She was pleased enough by the woman’s good taste in ladies to overlook her choice of tobacco products.

Her evening had suddenly gotten rather better.

“I do,” Maleficent murmured. “Why don’t you take a seat?”

The woman gracefully sat down beside her on the bench, crossing her legs. In the dim light, Maleficent could guess at the shape of her bare thighs, smooth and long. The woman flicked her wrist, producing a zippo and offering Maleficent the flame. 

Maleficent stuck one of the extinguished matches into the flame, unwilling to burn out her cigar over the gas. “Pray don’t think me rude. It’s a matter of texture.”

“Is it really? I’m sure I’ve never tried a cigar.”

Maleficent puffed on her cigar until it toasted and sighed, blowing out a mouthful of smoke. She turned to her companion and dared an arm along the bench, allowing her hand to dangle over the woman’s side.

“Thank you, my dear, you rescued me from a fate worse than death. Have we met?” she murmured, reclining a little more to produce a more effortless, relaxed figure. “Outside of my fondest dreams, I mean.”

The woman let out a little laugh, one hand rising up to pet her long hair. The gesture was almost nervous. “N-No, I don’t believe we have...more’s the pity!”

She sounded rather excited. Maleficent grinned. Now, what could that mean? A virgin, or new to the scene, or just nervous? Poor little dear. True, Maleficent was coming on strong, but the woman had called her ‘lovely.’ One couldn’t make an overture like that and not anticipate a response. 

She couldn’t see the woman properly in this light, and it bothered her a bit. Her companion was oddly familiar, and Maleficent decided that she wanted to learn more about her.

“Tell me, my dear,” she murmured, “does my rescuer have a name?”

“Call me Rose,” she replied. “And you?”

It was a personal rule of Maleficent’s never to give her real name to a one-night stand. She certainly didn’t want to give anyone a clue how to find her. When she was done with a woman, she was done. It was just fine if they’d never met at all, once all was said and done.

“Cara,” she said. She’d had an aunt named Carabosse. It was a little too old-fashioned in this day and age, but it still sounded good enough when it was shortened.

“Cara?” Rose replied, her voice smiling. “Very...sensual.”

Maleficent had to work not to snort. Now, that was laying it on a little thick. She had to be new. “Do you really suppose so?”

“I do. It’s so musical.”

“Ah. And do you have a musical ear, Rose?” She always liked musicians. Especially violinists. They demanded so much of themselves, settled for nothing less than a standing ovation, and were so good with their hands.

“I’m a singer,” Rose replied. That’d do, especially if she had a pretty scream. “And I dance.”

Dancer? Well, then she certainly new how to move her body. This was shaping up nicely. “Ah. You know, I wish I could, but...” She tapped her walking stick with her fingers. “Bad ankles.”

“I’m sure your ankles are just lovely,” Rose said with a little edge of something like mischief in her voice.

“That remains to be seen, you cheeky girl,” Maleficent smirked. She liked Rose. She was so fresh and new, but she was a bold little creature. She could like that sort of thing. 

“So, Cara...what do you like to do?” Rose asked at last. Maleficent had a canned answer for that--she liked to read--but she decided to go with something a little more genuine for the occasion.

“I like to be in charge,” she purred. 

Rose giggled. “You know, I sort of thought you were the sexy librarian type. I didn’t expect you to like to crack the whip!”

“I don’t just like it. I’m good at it, too,” Maleficent smirked.

“Oh? Maybe we’ll see...I have to tell you that I’m terrible at obeying directions. I like to be in charge, too. I might want to crack your whip a little.”

Now that was an inviting prospect. She hadn’t had a woman who could stand up to her in so many years... She loved control, who didn’t, but it was so tedious to always be the one to pursue. It left a woman feeling unwanted, when she always had to chase her quarry down without the slightest reciprocation.

“I think we’re going to get along brilliantly,” Maleficent purred. “What else, kitten? What do you like to do?”

“Oh, well, this and that...I used to cheerlead.”

Ooh, perfect. A blonde ex-cheerleader...taking out her frustrations with unattainable, horribly young Aurora on mature, wicked little Rose would be an excellent move. If she was as good in bed as Maleficent hoped, she might tell her her real name, after all. She might want to keep this one around.

“How fascinating. You must be so...active,” she purred.

“Well, it means I’m flexible, at least,” Rose said, and it drew a laugh out of Maleficent. 

“I suppose I ought to work on my poker face, shouldn’t I?” Ordinarily, she didn’t like it when someone could so easily see where her thoughts were tending.

“Maybe I can show you my split,” Rose offered.

Maleficent smiled, blowing out a plume of smoke. This was just what she needed--an evening with an eager companion. She was willing to bet Rose was beautiful; her voice was enough to send tingles down her spine, and that long blonde hair could likely compensate for just about anything. Maleficent couldn’t wait to see it spilled all over her pillows.

“I’d love to see your split, dear. How about we go to mine and you can show me how limber you are?” Maleficent murmured, leaning close to Rose and putting a hand on her bare thigh, rather higher than her knee. The other woman turned her head close and Maleficent could feel her breath against her lips as she replied, covering Maleficent’s hand with her own.

“Lead the way.”

Grinning, Maleficent rose to her feet, one hand on her walking stick. Holding her cigar between her lips, she held a hand out to Rose. The small, slender hand that slid into her palm spoke volumes about the size and shape of her companion, and Maleficent tucked the hand into her elbow. 

Rose took it with a soft little giggle of a noise, one that Maleficent found rather enchanting. They began to walk towards the garage where Maleficent had parked.

“I want you to know I don’t usually do this,” Rose said, blowing out a breath of smoke and resting her head on Maleficent’s arm. Romantic little thing.

“Now, I find that hard to believe,” smirked Maleficent. “You’re rather well-practiced.”

 “Don’t let that fool you,” Rose replied. “I’m usually a very good girl.”

“Oh, I do hope you won’t be good tonight,” Maleficent purred, glancing down at her companion as they passed under a streetlight.

She felt her heart plummet into her boots. She should’ve known it was too good to be true.

Rose--the lying little wretch, her name was Aurora--looked up at Maleficent in the same instant and she watched as the girl’s eyes widened in surprise. Aurora was wearing something out of a wet dream, a low-cut, short-skirted black dress that exposed her long, smooth limbs and pale skin. Her mouth, already so red, was positively bloody in the night, her beautiful blue eyes made up until they shone.

She was unbearably gorgeous. Just looking at her made Maleficent sting.

Maleficent unbent her arm, desperate to avoid contact with this horrible little monster. This had to be some type of hideous prank--this couldn’t possibly be real!

“You are a child,” she said, horror coloring her voice. Aurora’s expression became petulant. 

“I am not! I’m eighteen!”

Maleficent thought she would start to hyperventilate. She drew herself up, glowering down at Aurora. “You’re just a little girl. What are you doing here? Dressed that way? Smoking that?” She snatched the cigarette out of Aurora’s mouth, grinding it out with her shoe.

“Hey! You can’t do that! I am an adult!” Aurora glared at her, her pretty red lips pouting slightly. She looked at Maleficent with narrowed eyes, only to have them pop open again in shock. “Oh. Oh my. I knew I knew you! You’re the principal of--”

“I am a headmistress,” Maleficent said automatically. It was semantic, but she was sufficiently addled to not care that it was trivial. “Do your aunts know you are out here, soliciting strangers?”

“My aunts don’t need to know everything! I’m a grown woman and I can make my own decisions.”

Maleficent glowered and seized her by the arm, moving at a rapid clip towards her car.

“Hey! Where are we going? What are you doing? I thought you’d--”

 _“In loco parentis,”_ Maleficent hissed, dragging the girl along. 

“I’m not your student!”

“You might as well be,” Maleficent growled. “You’re coming with me. I am taking you back to your aunts.”

“You can’t do that!”

“Watch me,” she said. Aurora struggled, but the girl was as light as a feather and as delicate as a flower. She couldn’t have put up a fight if she’d wanted to.

Maleficent briefly considered how lucky it was for the girl that she had fallen in with someone whose own dignity refused to allow them to take advantage of her pretty frailty. Much to Maleficent’s misery, the ideas she’d been forming about what she was going to do to Rose had only intensified with her clear sight of Aurora. 

Oh, it was hard, having self-respect, sometimes. 

Maleficent tugged open her car door and all-but hurled Aurora into the seat. She slammed the door and Aurora immediately tried to work the handle. Maleficent held down the ‘lock’ button on her key ring and glared at her, walking around to her side of the car.

“You can’t do this!” Aurora exploded when Maleficent took her seat. 

“Don’t be absurd,” Maleficent grumbled. “I certainly can and shall. You have no business propositioning people at your age. Have a little pride, girl.”

“Don’t talk about me like that! Besides, you were about to sleep with me!” Aurora replied angrily, plucking up the lock on the car door. 

Maleficent hit the door lock button and sealed off the windows, for good measure. She started her car with a growl of the engine and threw it in reverse, tires protesting as she peeled out of the garage. “Buckle in and shut your mouth.”

Apparently Aurora’s survival instinct was more keen than Maleficent had given her credit for. Seeing that an angry, ruthless woman was behind the wheel, she put on her seat belt and remained quiet for a few seconds. It gave Maleficent enough time to restrain herself from going ahead with her original plan and taking her back to her apartment, her ego be damned.

She knew the girl’s address. She’d paid enough attention in her research to know that.

“Are you going to tell my aunts?” Aurora asked quietly. Here, in the car and without her cigarette and her delicious swagger, the girl looked so much more her age. 

It made the bile rise in Maleficent’s throat to still want her.

“I don’t suppose you can give me a good reason not to?” she asked icily. 

“I could beg?”

Oh, please feel free. Maleficent grimaced, her mouth tight. “That will avail you nothing.”

Aurora sighed. “Your name is really Maleficent, isn’t it? My aunts talk about you all the time, you know. How awful you are.”

Maleficent tightened her grip on the steering wheel. 

“I bet they’d be appalled that I managed to pick you up,” Aurora said, sounding faintly prideful.

“Then there is nothing I should like better than to tell them all about it and watch their horror,” Maleficent replied.

“Oh, good. That makes two,” Aurora said. Obviously the girl wasn’t familiar with the concept of a power balance. Trapped in a car with an angry stranger and she didn’t seem to realize that she was not the one in control. “It’s what they get for treating me like a child.”

“Which you are.”

“You didn’t seem to think that a few minutes ago,” Aurora replied sharply. Maleficent could see out of the corner of her eyes how Aurora looked her up and down and smiled. “The way they talk about you...I was expecting some awful old hag. Not you...”

Maleficent had the horrified suspicion that her cheeks were coloring. Aurora’s voice sounded far too appreciative and she did not want to deal with the consequences of a high-school age girl leering at her. “Yes, well, we don’t all shrivel up and die when we leave school,” she said coolly.

“After all the horror stories about you, I certainly didn’t ever imagine that you couldn’t work a match,” Aurora said, that smile in her voice again. “It was almost cute, you know.” She licked her lips. “You shouldn’t have taken my cigarette. I was enjoying that.”

 “It’s a filthy habit. Never do it again.”

“You were doing it. It looked...good. Very forties, you know?”

Maleficent narrowed her eyes. “I’m thirty-five, thank you very much, so you can simply--”

Aurora sounded horrified. “Oh! No, no, not that way! I mean, 1940s! No, you...you look quite young, very pretty, don’t misunderstand me, please!”

She almost had to smile at the obvious worry in the girl’s voice. There. The ball was back in her court. “Close your mouth before you make a fool of yourself.”

There was a brief instant of chastised silence, in which Maleficent almost imagined that she had regain control.

Then Aurora opened her mouth again. “What were you doing out there, anyway? I mean...you’re a _headmistress!_ I thought you were above that sort of thing!”

“Sometimes I descend from on high to slum it with mere human beings,” Maleficent said dryly. 

“Outside the Magic Carpet? But it’s so seedy!”

“How are you to know that? You’re eighteen.”

“The bouncer likes me,” Aurora said with a little lilt of pleasure in her voice. Maleficent rolled her eyes.

“Well, at least you’re starting your sleeping-around early,” she grumbled.  “You know that isn’t what I mean. I just get my hands marked and I go in anyway,” Aurora said. “I’ve never slept around. Not even once.”

“Oh. Did I get in the way of your first attempt? I’m quite sorry, I’m sure.”

“You were my first attempt,” Aurora grumbled. “I figured I might as well aim high...”

“Your aim is off.” Maleficent was determined not to let this get to her. It was torturous, listening to this girl try her best to flirt with her. The worst part was that she wasn’t bad, not at all. If she’d been a bit older...

Well. They certainly wouldn’t be visiting her aunts.

“My aim is just fine,” Aurora insisted. “It’s not my fault you’re so gorgeous.”

That wasn’t exactly subtle, but Maleficent had a hard time not making a U-turn and speeding all the way back to her home. As half of her screamed about how she will loathe herself in the morning after bedding the girl, the other half wasn’t far from mewling for just the chance to touch her golden hair. It was pathetic and horrible, and she hated it.

She would not be mastered by it. She cared nothing for the girl’s innocence and youth, really--it was the age difference. It was the appalling gap of time, the fact that she would be sleeping with a teenager, good God, and at her age. It stunk of desperation.

Maleficent was never desperate.

“You like it when I say that, don’t you?” Aurora asked, a low tone of sensual amusement in her voice. It was deliciously dark, and Maleficent found that it contrasted so brilliantly with the girls’ wholesome appearance. 

“I’m only shocked because I’ve never heard someone so tactlessly try to seduce me,” Maleficent said, covering frostily. “I’m sure I must congratulate you, kitten. You have stubby little claws after all.”

“I think you like it a lot,” Aurora said, grinning a little. “You must admit that this is terribly interesting, headmistress...”

If only she could take the ‘head’ out of that sentence, it would be an infinitely more fascinating conversation.

“Mind your manners,” Maleficent said. They were within two blocks of the girl’s home. If she can maintain her cool that long, she could take herself home, alone, and try to relieve the tension.

“You’re really going to drop me off at my house, aren’t you?” 

“I am indeed. And I hope you will get the chewing out of a lifetime.”

“That’s what I’d gone out hoping to get, actually. I don’t think I’m going to get it, unless you plan on severely surprising me...”

She had to smirk at that innuendo--it was rather good. It was not too late to park and to push the girl into her back seat, she thought. Maleficent hastily dismissed that idea, shaking her head. She pulled up to the house and stopped the car, unlocking the doors. “Get out.”

“No goodnight kiss?”

“Get out of my car, you cocky little reprobate, before I bend you over my knee.”

“If only...”

“Out.”

Aurora gave her such a grin, and it put Maleficent on edge. The girl thought she’d won. She might not have been entirely wrong. Maleficent didn’t like to react on a visible spectrum, and Aurora had gotten some fairly severe reactions out of her.

It was awful.

Aurora opened the door and placed a foot out. “You’re not going to come in and visit, then?”

“I shall not. Charming though I’m sure they are, your aunts are not my biggest fans,” Maleficent said. 

“You don’t even want to tell them what I did?”

Maleficent looked her up and down. “I’ll just save the opportunity,” she said coolly.

Aurora lifted her eyebrows, smirking. “I suppose you’ll blackmail me into doing something horrible over it?” she asked, sounding almost hopeful.

“Don’t get all excited, kitten,” Maleficent sneered. “Now out you go.”

Aurora leaned deeper into the car and quickly pecked Maleficent on the cheeks. She felt the appalling rush of heat that came with blushing as her cheeks and neck turned red. Oh no--she hadn’t blushed since she was the girl’s age! Horrified, she put a hand to her cheeks and glared.

“Oh, that’s cute,” Aurora murmured, smiling mischievously. She stepped out of the car and blew a kiss. “Good night, headmistress. Let’s do this again some time.”

“I’ve changed my mind. Your aunts are getting an earful,” Maleficent said, going so far as to turn off the car. 

Aurora let out a little laugh and slammed the door, running across the lawn and into the house in a matter of instants.

Maleficent started her engine again and drove herself home. She rode the elevator up to her apartment, rubbing her temples with one hand.

Oh, she was doomed. Thoroughly doomed. 

\--

Her lips were still tingling as she leaned against the front door, waiting to hear Maleficent’s car drive off.

Aunt Fauna was waiting up when Aurora peeked into the living room. Thank goodness Aunts Flora and Merryweather had gone to be...Fauna had always been rather less invested in what Aurora wore. 

“Hello, dearie,” Fauna said as Aurora sheepishly tried to creep by the doorway. “Did you have fun with your little friends? Last few weeks of school and whatnot!”

“Yes, Aunt Fauna,” Aurora said, shifting her weight a little. 

“Oh, Aurora, isn’t that a bit of a short skirt?” Fauna asked with a slightly concerned look on her face.

“All the girls wear them this way these days, auntie,” Aurora said hastily. 

“Well, if you’re quite sure...off to bed, dearie. If Flora hears about how late you were out, she’ll be terribly angry!”

“Yes, auntie,” Aurora agreed, hurrying up the steps. She bolted into her room and locked the door. She grinned, striking few poses in front of her mirror to show off her scandalous clothes. If the girls at school could see her now!

Aurora threw herself on the bed, nearly giggling. Okay, so tonight wasn’t a perfect victory, but she sure as hell felt triumphant. 

She’d been hearing stories about Maleficent ever since she was a little girl--mostly her aunts would only call her ‘Her.’ She’d heard all about the wicked woman they’d known when they were younger, the one who glowered and growled like an angry tiger and who had made Uncouth Advances to Aunt Flora once. The evil, bad girl, the girl Aurora was never supposed to be like.

At first she’d been fine, not behaving like Her. Aurora didn’t want to be bad, after all. She was fine, being a good girl.

It’s just that it had gotten so hard to do that, lately. Especially when she caught herself looking at bad girls with new eyes.

Somehow it had never connected for her, that Her and Headmistress Maleficent were the same woman. That dark, beautiful, casually contemptuous woman who occasionally appeared on the rival bleachers at school was bad to the bone, but she wasn’t vulgar or at all awful like her aunts had made her sound.

Aurora had thought she was rather delicious, to be quite honest. 

Finding her tonight was quite a shock. Aurora had been determined to lose her virginity before she left high school, and ‘Cara’--that liar!--had been so unbearably perfect for the job of debauching her. She’d been nearly salivating by the time they’d paused under that streetlight.

Her faint flicker of hope that Maleficent was still going to take her home to ravish her had died when the older woman had told her to buckle in. She’d done everything she could think of to change Maleficent’s mind, but nothing had done the job.

Maybe it was better this way. Sure, she was noticeably unravished--in fact, she needed to take care of that, really--but she did know for a fact that the private school’s headmistress blushed when a pretty girl kissed her on the cheek.

That was more than a whole evening’s work, right there! 

It was delightful, to be wanted by a woman that gorgeous, that powerful. She could still feel Maleficent’s eyes on her, the fiery glares in the car and the low-burning leers she could still imagine in her mind’s eye when she remembered how they shamelessly flirted on the bench...

Aurora squirmed a little, brushing her fingertips over her thigh, where Maleficent had touched her. Oh. She wanted more, she wanted her, that sublime, superior woman. 

She slipped her hand further up, gasping soundlessly as she imagined the smirk on the woman’s face, the darkness of her eyes, the warm, dizzying tones of her persuasive voice. Maleficent, all over her, taking every last inch of her for herself...

Getting back all of that utterly delectable woman.

Aurora curled up in bed later, having scrubbed her face clean of all the makeup. She smiled to herself a little. Maleficent just needed some encouragement. She wasn’t a child, after all, and it wasn’t like there was some type of teacher-student conflict of interest. It wasn’t wrong, just...illicit enough to be kinky.

She’d make it happen.


	3. Chapter 3

There are lots of people who are not at all fond of other people, and the word 'antisocial' gets bandied about rather a lot for those particular persons. 'Antisocial' is not a catch-all term, and it should not be used as one when one merely has a casual disdain for human interaction.

Take Maleficent for example. 'Antisocial' was not really what she wanted to say to describe herself--'selectively social' was just so much more precise--but she generally 'selected' solitude. When one so vastly preferred being alone to being in the presence of others, it looked like one hated people.

She did not, usually, hate people. That took such an enormous amount of effort and it was pretty well true that most people were simply not at all worth the work. She disliked people, in a distant, hazy sort of way--she curled her lip at them. 

Still. She didn't dislike all sorts of people, and she supposed that she rather desperately did not want to end up as a crazy old spinster with nothing but a vast library and fifteen cats to keep her company.

She disliked cats, for one thing.

So every Sunday morning, she betook herself to a little cafe down the street from her apartment. It was a charming little place, tucked into an old cellar, dim and cool and full of pseudo-intellectuals and pretty coffee waitresses.

She selected her book for the morning and headed down for her morning restorative. At the very least, she'd breath other air for a little while. 

Perhaps it was a little sad, really, that this was the highlight of her weekend. She couldn't really say that she'd ever been a party girl, really--group activities simply didn't suit her. But one did want to have a bit of excitement, or even a bit of fun in one's life, didn't they?

Maybe Maleficent's precise conception of 'fun' was a little different than most people's, but still. 

She ordered a large black coffee and sat at one of the back tables, opening her book. Lately she'd been brushing up on the science of dreams, if 'science' it could be called. She was hip-deep in Jung and beginning to clamber out into more esoteric works, but she was going slowly and savoring it. She whiled away two hours, reading and drinking, restoring the parts of her that had raveled after the thousand little agonies that came from a week of dealing with other people.

"Mind sharing a table?"

Maleficent's head jerked up, a snappish remark already flying out of her mouth before she realized that she recognized the voice. "I do--take yourself elsewhere."

Aurora was standing by the table, holding something that looked elaborate and sweet. She was in a pair of impossibly short shorts and a tank top, slightly sweaty. Her long sweep of blonde hair was tied up in a ponytail and she looked at Maleficent with a cheeky grin. 

She slipped into the chair across from Maleficent, licking the whipped cream off of her coffee confection. "Come on, now, a pretty lady like you shouldn't be alone..."

Maleficent briefly wondered what part of the girl's brain was missing. She'd see grown men look halfway to pissing themselves when she'd been glaring at them this hard. Veins were probably bulging, at this point. Obviously she had no survival instinct.

It had been two weeks since the unfortunate evening outside The Magic Carpet. Maleficent certainly hadn't succeeded in forgetting it, but she had managed to recover her sangfroid. There was no way to undo it, so she'd had to simply carry on--provided, of course, she refrained from thinking about it as much as was humanly possible. 

What had she ever done that was so bad that she should be cursed with this girl?

She turned her attention back to her book. "Leave." Technically, she could've moved to another table herself, but the girl would only follow and make a scene. And anyway, she didn't move to accommodate others--people moved to accommodate Maleficent.

"Oh, don't be grumpy."

"I am not grumpy. I have no desire to endure your presence and besides which, you are disgustingly sweaty. Why on earth would you show your face in public looking like that?"

"I was jogging. People sweat when they jog. It's nothing to be ashamed of."

Maleficent disagreed. Sweat, like tears and almost any other bodily fluid, was disgusting. Blood was the only acceptable human liquid to see a person covered in, and even then, she curled her lip at the uncouthness. What was wrong with cleanliness, one might wonder? 

She looked Aurora up and down, careful to sneer and to avoid lingering. As horrid as it was that she was sitting there perspiring, she really did glow prettily. "Wrong. Now run along, kitten."

Aurora pouted. "You're acting like I'm some kind of awful stranger! You don't need to be so prickly, you know."

Maleficent directed her eyes into her book. "I wonder where you got the idea that stalking people was an acceptable behavior for a young woman," she said darkly.

"Oh, I am not stalking you! I happened to stumble upon you here. Maybe it was fate," Aurora said with a mischievous smile that belied her romantic little sigh.

Maleficent curled her lip but didn't otherwise reply.

Aurora sipped her ridiculous dessert coffee and smiled, looking around. There was a long pause, and every second Maleficent expected that at last the girl would weary of being ignored and would wander off. 

"This is so nice," Aurora murmured. "You know, none of my friends can just sit and be quiet with me. All the girls are so talkative."

Maleficent glanced up long enough to lift an eyebrow. "I see that it rubbed off," she drawled grimly. "I don't make it a habit to ask things to children, but do you suppose you could kindly relieve me of your presence?"

Aurora shook her head, smiling. "I bet that if you really wanted me gone, you could make me go. Or you'd go yourself."

Maleficent glowered. "That is a despicable lie of reasoning. Who failed to teach you that 'no' means 'no'?"

Aurora seemed stung by that, like she hadn't ever considered that. Stupid child. Maleficent hated her. She suddenly looked worried and horribly guilty. Good. She couldn't accost people and think her beauty and grace and wonderful personality would excuse her.

"Do...do you really want me to leave?" she asked timidly, all of her flirtatious bravado gone. At least Maleficent was as good at bursting the girl's bubbles as Aurora was at blowing them up.

She gave the girl a mean little smile. "That's what I mean, when I say, 'go away,'" Maleficent said, sticky sweet. "You have things you should be doing. College applications and such."

"College?" Aurora asked, suddenly derailed. Maleficent was suddenly very glad that she didn't have to teach this girl. Keeping her on track was nearly impossible.

Then again, that meant that she could punish her when she was off-task.

Oh. Good Lord. Have a little self-respect. 

"I'm not going to college," the blonde continued, shrugging her shoulders. "I'm going to be a singer."

Maleficent stared Aurora and closed her book. She took a slow, deep breath, and pointed a finger at the girl.

"You are a complete and total idiot," Maleficent said calmly. Aurora looked scandalized.

"What?"

"You are an utter, entire, reprehensible moron," she added. "Unless this is a matter of money."

"N-No, it isn't...my aunts want me to go, but I--"

"Shut your mouth before you further expose your despicable ignorance," Maleficent said, leaning back in her chair. "How do you expect to become a singer, Aurora? Do you suppose you shall just live at home and practice your scales until someone comes along and sweeps you off your feet and into stardom?"

"I could give lessons, to start out!"

"Lessons?" Maleficent let out a little cry of laughter. "With what credentials?"

"Why should you even care what I do with my life?" Aurora asked, coloring angrily. "You hate me, don't you?"

"I am an educator, girl, and despite whatever I may personally think of you is not to be reckoned against what you would be throwing away if you continued down this meandering road of idiocy." Maleficent sniffed. "I have a responsibility to myself to ensure that you do not do something this incredibly stupid. If you do, I have failed, and it is an insult to me."

"And I take it that you never endure an insult?" Aurora grumbled, rolling her eyes. 

"Too right." Maleficent pulled a notepad out of her handbag. "Here--here are the names of a few good private schools in the area. Of course, there is university, and there are some quite good public colleges." The pen flew over the paper as she scribbled down names. "And of course there are several good scholarships--ah, and of course there's that very intriguing musical program..."

Aurora lifted an eyebrow. "Who knew it would be college admissions that would get you all excited?" she drawled. 

Maleficent curled her lip and tore out the piece of paper, folding it and sliding it across the table. "Here. Take it and do some research. Talk to those fools you call guidance counselors. Apply to college. And if you disobey me and throw your life away, I'll tell your aunts what you were up to two weeks ago."

Aurora glared. "You wouldn't. They wouldn't believe you."

"They'll at least keep you locked in the house, to keep you far from the degenerative influence of the likes of me," Maleficent smirked. "Now get out."

Aurora took the piece of paper and stubbornly sat for another two minutes. Maleficent turned back to her book and ignored the girl.

After a little while, Aurora got up and left, taking the piece of paper with her. Maleficent smirked to herself, glancing up only when she was sure that the girl was long gone.

On the table, Aurora had left a napkin with a pink lip-gloss print on it, far too carefully made in the shape of a kiss to be accidental. Maleficent rolled her eyes--perhaps smiling a little--and left it on the table.

\--

If she'd been a woman more easily cowed, Maleficent would've found a different coffee shop to patronize of a Sunday. But she'd only every run away from anything when direst circumstances threatened her, and she wasn't going to give up her spot for the sake of avoiding Aurora's company. Aurora's company isn't at its direst yet, and until then, she will carry on like the proud, capable creature that she is.

It's bad for her, far worse than a mere indulgence in something naughty. The girl is a dangerous drug, something that could lose her everything, even herself. She will not give herself up for the girl, for the ways she could use and be used by Aurora. She categorically refuses.

She went down to the coffee shop the next Sunday and Aurora never appeared. She knew she had to be halfway addicted then, based on her own disappointment. She'd felt just this disappointment before, but only once: as a child, she'd been teased by one of the bigger, sportier, prettier girls in fifth grade, and when that awful attention was finally off of her, she'd craved it.

Maleficent had advanced far beyond her fifth grade self, and she did not like being dragged back there.

She drank too much coffee and stormed out in a bad mood that she'd tried hard to pretend wasn't there.

During the work week, she could forget the girl. There was always enough to do to keep her busy, dealing with students and parents and her own damn-fool colleagues.

It was the weekend nights that were tricky. She was abstaining from the girl in fantasy as well as in real life. Aside from those few ugly little daydreams she'd allowed herself when Aurora was still a nameless beauty, she'd been very good at keeping the girl out of her head.

When Aurora breezed in the following Sunday, Maleficent had been torn between disgust and pleasure. Predictably, the girl came over to join her at her table, caring nothing for Maleficent's sneer.

"What part of 'go away' was so very difficult to understand?" she all-but growled, looking up from her book and resting her chin on the back of her hand. Aurora smiled at her low-lidded look of contempt and leaned forward herself.

"I thought I'd come by and tell you what a good girl I'm being, and how you don't need to air my dirty laundry," she murmured. Maleficent rolled her eyes, settling back in her chair a little. Too close for comfort.

"I'm thrilled," she drawled. "Congratulations, really. Goodbye."

"Well, nobody's accepted me, yet," Aurora said. "And I might just turn them down if they do take me on."

"You don't need to go out of the way to prove your stupidity to me, kitten, I took it as rote."

"You're awfully mean, for someone who cares an awful lot about my future."

What could one say about that? To be quite honest, whether the girl succeeded or failed was as nothing to Maleficent. She just didn't want the enemy of her peace of mind to be some spoiled, stupid, wasteful child, really. She wanted that pretty face and talented voice to go with an educated mind.

That was base and reprehensible, she knew. But she could not have her sangfroid so decimated by a pretty, selfish little airhead. A pretty, selfish little bachelor of arts would be slightly more acceptable.

"No one ever told me I had to be nice," Maleficent said. "I just have to be good at my job."

"Should my aunts be paying you for looking after me like this, then?" Aurora asked, amused.

"I'm given to understand that babysitters are usually paid, yes."

"It's college prep. You could run a course."

"Yes, with my valuable free time the one thing I certainly want to do is endure the presence of more teenagers."

"Well, I'll just get out of your hair, then," Aurora chirped, smirking at her. "Has anyone ever told you you're very cute when you're trying to be nasty and cruel?"

"Leave," Maleficent said, barely restraining the hiss that longed to break free.

Aurora grinned and hopped out of her seat, sashaying towards the door. Maleficent watched her out of the corner of her eye, sure that the girl couldn't see her looking.

At the last instant, Aurora turned and blew her a kiss. 

Maleficent wasn't fast enough to stop her eyes from widening and she blushed with anger as the sweet sound of the girl's voice echoed after her on her way out the door.

Damn it.

\--

"Good morning!"

"Leave me be."

"I think this is becoming rather a nice habit, don't you? It's lovely to have someone to talk to on Sunday mornings."   
"Is that what this is?"

"It's what I'm making it. After all, you haven't gone out of your way to get rid of me, have you?"

"Haven't I reminded you of how that is a disgusting line of reasoning?"

"Somehow I keep coming back to it. What are you reading?"

"A book."

"A book about what?"

"Words."

"Words about what?"

"About how aggravating children should be locked in very small dungeons until they learn to obey their betters." 

"Ooh, sounds rather kinky." 

A small, unstoppable laugh. "Your aunts failed in raising a decent and respectable lady."

"Aren't you glad?"

"Hmph."

\--

"What are you reading, anyway?" Aurora asked one Sunday. 

"A very bland dissertation on dreams in European folklore," Maleficent said coolly. "It's remarkably bad."

Aurora was a little confused. "So why are you reading it?"

"Just because the writing is awful doesn't mean there won't be an interesting idea or two. And if it's truly vile, my own ideas are sharpened."

"You never stop being academic, do you?" Aurora sighed. She didn't really need Maleficent to respond--she knew the answer.

No, Maleficent never stopped being academic. At least she never stopped educating herself, if that wasn't quite the same thing. Aurora had only ever seen her without a book once, and that was that very first night.

Really, that night should've proved to her conclusively that Maleficent had a sex drive, but as time went on she began to think more and more certainly that that evening had been a very, very rare exception to the rule. Maleficent was a scholar, not a lover. 

Aurora was growing disheartened on the subject of going to bed with this woman, her chances of getting shagged in inverse proportion to the time they spent together. On the upside, however, she had been learning, slowly, how to decipher the other woman.

Maleficent had all the component parts of real human being--it just took a long time to get through to see it. She had a sense of humor, and a whole host of pet peeves, and unless Aurora was much mistaken, there were even things Maleficent liked. Sure, those things were usually things like kicked puppies, crying children, and sneering, but they were still 'likes.'

To be perfectly honest, she was having fun with Maleficent, which wasn't something she'd ever really expected to happen. She hadn't intended to talk to her so much, to put up with so much of her casual, catty, cruel attitude. But then again, that attitude had started to be less pronounced as Maleficent got used to the idea that she wasn't going to shake Aurora--or at least Aurora had gotten used to it.

She started to bring her own books. One Sunday she showed up with _Rebecca_ by Daphne DuMaurier and she really thought that Maleficent's mouth would get stuck in its sneer of utter disgust.

The next Sunday, Maleficent nearly threw a book at her.

"Here," she said insistently. "It's hard to watch even you staggering your way through such drivel. This will be much better."

"I like Rebecca!"

"That's because you've got no taste," Maleficent replied, rolling her eyes.

Aurora looked at the book skeptically. _Sense and Sensibility._ "I think my aunts read this kind of thing."

"Well, they've got better taste than I gave them credit for," the headmistress said, eyes already back on her book.

Aurora cracked it open with a sigh. 

She had not expected to be completely sucked in. It was like a fairytale, but funnier, and more real.

When she was done with it, she brought it back to Maleficent, _Persuasion_ tucked under her arm.

She even caught the little twitch of a smile that Maleficent couldn't quite squelch in time.

\--

Aurora exploded into the coffee shop one dim day in January. "I hope you're satisfied."

"In general, I am," Maleficent said, reading. She marked her place with her finger and glanced up at the girl as she sat down at the table. "Pray tell me why you have chosen to inflict yourself upon me today."

Aurora plunked _Pickwick Papers _on the table. Maleficent made a tiny moue of approval. "I got accepted to two schools."__

__"Only two? I should've guessed your grades would be atrocious," Maleficent sighed. "So? Where will you go?"_ _

__"I don't know yet. I don't really care about it." Aurora sighed. "I thought I'd be done with school."_ _

__"Laziness."_ _

__"Oh, probably. It doesn't make me want to go to college any more."_ _

__Maleficent sipped her coffee. "I would tell you that college is where you will hit your stride, but I imagine that you've been very happy in high school. I am not without hope that you managed to avoid making a complete wreck of yourself."_ _

__"I suppose that's meant to encourage me?"_ _

__"Really just to make you do what I want you to."_ _

__"Hmm. Well. There's that."_ _

__"Go wherever gives you the better financial aid package. You can always transfer later."_ _

__"The private school has a pretty good music program."_ _

__Maleficent pointed at her, nodding in a satisfied manner, and waved a hand at her. "There. Good choice. Let me know how it goes."_ _

__"You'll care?"_ _

__"No. But I'm willing to expend a small amount of attention on you to ensure that you will continue to coast along and barely survive in a facility of higher education."_ _

__"Wow, Mal, that was so sweet."_ _

__"You may call me Ms. Maleficent or ma'am."_ _

__"Oh, don't start that, I'll get all excited."_ _

__"Cheeky girl."_ _

__Aurora stayed rather longer that morning. Maleficent walked her out._ _


	4. College Years

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The last and final chapter of this little saga.
> 
> Thanks, as always, to !UrbanCowgirl804, "Blaze" for the universe that I have such fun mucking about with.

Maleficent had been hip-deep in The Interpretation of Dreams when Aurora stumbled into the coffee shop.

She’d never seen Aurora well and truly tired before. The girl wore it well, those dark circles under her eyes, despite the makeup she’d put on to try and hide it. Distance from the high school had done nothing for her fashion sense, of course--the little purple pencil skirt and pink turtle-neck would have been perfectly at home on a little girl. Of course, her curves, legs, and long blonde hair made her look more like a sleepy fifties-style pin-up girl.

Maleficent smirked a little to think that Flora’s pink influence had done nothing to stem the tide of womanly appeal. She waved her hand at the cute little barista across the room; she and Aurora had been coming here often enough and had been ordering the same things long enough for the girl to have their orders memories.

Maleficent placed her bookmark between the pages of her book and leaned back in her seat, letting herself consider the exhausted little creature before her.

Aurora ran a hand through her hair, holding that tumble of blonde hair up and off of her face before letting out a little moan. “It’s horrible!”

Maleficent sipped her coffee.

“It’s so hard--the work is unbelievable!” Aurora exclaimed. “And that’s not even the worst! The people, oh my God, we are not at Disney any more, I’ll tell you that! Everyone’s crazy and hormonal and they all want each other and hate each other and the lines between friends and not is so blurry and--”

Maleficent let her run on at the mouth for a few moments, half-listening. The girl said something about funny but dysfunctional young men and women, beautiful girls, and a talkative, boring man that had been at a party. She rolled her eyes discreetly, smiling thinly at the barista as she dropped off Aurora’s appallingly sugary beverage.

“And I can’t even afford coffee!” Aurora cried aloud, looking near to tears. Maleficent rolled her eyes again, rather less discreetly.

“I’ll deal with it,” she said. “One more here, please.” She’d probably regret the caffeine overdose later, but that was the future’s problem. “Are you quite done whining?”

“Whining?!”

“Pouting, even. The solutions to your problems are obvious.” Maleficent drained the rest of her coffee. “Become friends with them, tell him never to come to your room again, and sleep with her.”

Aurora blinked, looking shocked. It just figured that the girl would act like a startled woodland animal around the subject of sex when she wasn’t trying to play out of her league. “Just like that?”

“Certainly. That is what I would do. Especially the girl,” Maleficent said, showing her teeth.

“Really? Can’t you give me a little more advice?” Aurora sipped her drink, sighing contentedly as the sugar hit her bloodstream. “I...um, I don’t really know how to make friends. The girls and I just sort of...fell together.”

“I am given to understand that that is how it generally happens,” Maleficent said, wondering when that blasted coffee would get here.

Aurora tilted her head. “Oh, come on. You have friends. We’re friends.”   
Maleficent gave her the sort of sneer she deserved for saying something that stupid.

Aurora smiled, putting her chin in her hand. It always did cheer her up so blasted much whenever she thought Maleficent was out of her element. “Let’s see. When I wanted to make you my friend, all I did was keep pestering you until you finally stopped growling at me and let me sit by you. And then I bought you a Christmas present, and you’ve been buying my coffee ever since to try to make up for it, even though you think you’re being terribly sneaky and I don’t notice,” she said with a cheeky grin.

“Right,” said Maleficent sharply. “In that case, you can pay for that ridiculous beverage by doing the dishes. My limited charity is closed to you.”

“Oh, c’mon, Mal, I’m just teasing.” 

“Respect your elders, bratling.”

“I’m a grown up, Mal, not even your student anymore, not that I ever was,” Aurora said, smirking. Maleficent stared at that smirk a little--she recognized that expression as the one she saw looking back at her in the bathroom mirror in the morning. “Or are you saying that you can’t handle a little college girl teasing you?”

Maleficent rolled her eyes. “Finish your drink and get out of here.”

“Can I come back and tell you how your advice went?”

“I have yet been able to find a means of stopping you from doing whatever it is you damn well please,” Maleficent sniffed, opening her book again. Aurora smiled.

After a few minutes, she spoke again. “Can you give me any advice on the workload?” 

“Stop being lazy.”

Aurora rolled her eyes. “Thanks, Mal. So insightful.”

“Well, if you can’t handle it, you’re even weaker than I gave you credit for,” Maleficent said, giving her a frosty look over the tops of her reading glasses.

Aurora stuck her chin out a little. “I can handle it. I’m not weak.”

“We’ll just see,” Maleficent murmured.

In three weeks, Aurora came into the coffee shop, chattering excitedly on her cell phone, wearing a huge smile and a slightly sleep-rumpled appearance. She smelled of another woman’s perfume, and Maleficent smiled, just a little, to think about how well things seemed to have worked out.

Maleficent took the girl’s arm when they left the coffee shop. Despite her walking stick, she couldn’t quite trust her balance on the icy streets at this time of year. She’d rather concede her hand to the girl than to fall in front of her.

Damn it, she was only thirty-six! It was sickening! Between that and the last night’s new gray hair, she was obviously on the fast track to an early grave.

Maleficent pulled out a cigar and lifted her eyebrows at Aurora. Usually the girl had a light.

Aurora reached into her pocket with a frown. “I wish you wouldn’t smoke those around me.”

Maleficent took the cigar out of her mouth. “Haven’t you quit? I thought you would surely enjoy the smell.”

“I do. But it gets into my clothes and my aunts want to know where that ‘rank stench’ came from.”

Maleficent snorted. Despite her protests, Aurora flicked open her lighter. She’d have to endure the chemicals this time, for the sake of a bit of stress relief. “The pleasing odor is half the point,” Maleficent replied, blowing out a little puff of silvery smoke.

“I have to tell them that it’s somebody on the quad smelling up my coats. I’m always afraid they’re going to catch on, since I’m sure you wouldn’t sully your lips with a cigar that a college kid could afford.”

“Mm, yes, teachers are known for all their disposable income,” Maleficent murmured.

“I have a little income to dispose of,” Aurora smiled. “What would you like for Christmas?”

Maleficent frowned. “Someone’s two front teeth. Don’t buy me anything, child.”

Aurora gave her a sunny smile and patted her hand.

Later in the year, the girl gave her a pair of snake-fang earrings. She was mortified by how much she liked them.

\--

Sophomore year had its own difficulties.

“I’ve got bad news and worse news,” Aurora said one morning, sighing as she slumped into her seat. Maleficent lifted an eyebrow, eyes still on the page before her. “The bad news is that Aunt Flora knows about me.”

“Hm,” she replied, sipping her coffee.

“Of course, I got angry when she tried to brow beat me over it, which let to the worse news: I lost my temper and shouted about how I know that she and Aunt Flora have been doing the deed since I was a baby.”

Maleficent choked a little, coughing before she could stop herself. She should have been humiliated for making such a fool of herself in front of Aurora and the coffee shop, but as soon as she had breath, she was cackling.

“Flora! That old dusty bint boinking Fauna?!” She laughed so hard she screeched a little.

Aurora looked taken aback. “Yes, of course. Flora thought no one knew. Merryweather certainly didn’t.”

Maleficent let out a little keen. “Oh! Oh that angry little dumpling! What did she say, what did she say?” she asked, leaning forward excitedly.

“Um, well, Flora told me that it was an awful thing to do, and how would I ever find my prince, and I was so angry, so I said, um, ‘But you and Aunt Flora have been together for years!’ And Aunt Merryweather said ‘What?’ and Aunt Flora turned red, and Aunt Fauna put her hand on Merryweather’s shoulder and said, ‘Oh, but you must’ve known, dear, after all, we share a room and a bed. Why on earth would we do that if we weren’t together?’”

“And then?” Maleficent asked, holding her breath.

“Aunt Merryweather said, ‘I thought we were poor!’” 

Maleficent had to calm herself down after a few moments, knowing well that if she was too loud too long, she would have to be asked to leave, and that could only lead to a scene, as she went nowhere on another person’s orders.

“Oh God, oh my God, oh--oh--” She fanned herself with her hand, giggling. She hadn’t laughed that hard in years, maybe ever!

Aurora lifted an eyebrow and smirked. That smirk was getting better. “I guess I made your morning, huh?”

“My month,” Maleficent said, sitting limp and satisfied in her seat.

“So why are you so happy about it? Aunt Flora told me you once made Uncouth Advances to her...” Aurora said, giving her a curious look.

Maleficent smiled dryly. “Once upon a time, we were at school together, and I was incredibly drunk and sleep-deprived. And in those days, your aunt was quite...substantial, and pleasantly so, from the neck down, though of course the northern regions were and are a complete and total wasteland.” Maleficent sipped her drink, smiling at the tingle of pain as her sore throat met hot, acidic coffee. “And I tried my luck, and she was suitably horrified. Now I know that it’s just her incredibly bad taste. Fauna, my God! That bimbo! She was even more of an airhead in school, and only a bit prettier...” She shuddered, grinning cruelly. “Hah, they must look like a pair of wrinkled old elephants when they’re in bed together!”

“Hey! Those are my aunts!” Aurora said indignantly, looking a little green. “Don’t talk about them that way.”

“They’re my enemies, kitten, I’ll talk about them as I like,” Maleficent smirked.

“They’re your age, anyway. So they aren’t any more wrinkled than you are!”

“Oh, but I take exquisite care of myself,” Maleficent replied. “So I look ever-so much younger.”

Aurora sighed and rolled her eyes. “Anyway, that took the spotlight off of me. So I’m well and truly out now, no going back...it’s kind of nice. Now I don’t have to talk about going out with ‘Alex’ and ‘Sam’ and ‘Jordan’ and let them assume.”

“Congratulations, how liberating,” Maleficent drawled.

“School’s fine, by the way.”

“I’m so happy for you. In every way.”

“Cruel, Mal.”

Not as cruel as she used to be, not by a lot. She wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or not.

\--

During junior year, the inevitable happened.

There had been tension before them, of course. Aurora was bad for her. She made Maleficent want to do things that would destroy her ruthless reputation. She made Maleficent want to stroke her hair, smile at her beautiful voice, embrace her and just hold her when something or someone bruised that tender heart of hers.

She took it out on her students, inflicted draconian punishments to compensate. She tried to keep up her walls and remain cold to the girl, but Aurora melted her down every time.

They couldn’t do this much longer, or she’d lose her mind entirely. She was too set in her ways to change now, and there was still that age gap. She wouldn’t jump the gorge and let herself be humiliated.

She’d enjoy it for the next year and a half, and then cut her off.

They were leaving the coffee shop, in the middle of a quarrel about witches in English folklore--the girl was holding her own with surprising tenacity and skill and Maleficent was having a smashing time--when three loud gasps came from somewhere up the street.

“Oh, shit,” Aurora mumbled, looking up at her aunts. Flora bustled over and grabbed Aurora’s arm, dragging her protectively behind her.

Maleficent lit her cigar. Well. Maybe she’d move the split up a little. Nothing like family resistance to drive a wedge. She squelched the little flicker of regret and took a long drag.

“Aunt Flora, please listen to--”

“You horrible monster!” Flora hissed. Maleficent looked down at her with a sneer, seeing Merryweather puff herself up at Flora’s side. Obviously those two had gotten over their differences. Fauna put her hand on Aurora’s arm, trying to console the girl. “What on earth are you doing with our niece?”

“Aunt Flora, you don’t understand--”

“We were arguing,” Maleficent replied, blowing a mouthful of smoke in Flora’s face. “About literature. Despite your best efforts, the girl seems literate. My condolences.”

Flora coughed, waving a hand to disperse the smoke.

Merryweather started to shake with anger. “Oh, you--you--you old hop toad!”

“Aunt Merryweather!”

“Remain silent, child,” Maleficent growled.

Flora cleared her throat. “Ugh, you always smoked those awful--” Her eyes widened as she recognized the smell and turned onto her niece. “Aurora! Why didn’t you tell us she was harassing you all this time! We would’ve helped you! She’s terribly dangerous!”

“Aunt Flora, for God’s sake, she’s not hurting me! She’s my friend!” Aurora was bright red and glowering. It occurred to Maleficent that she’d never actually seen the girl angry. “She isn’t dangerous! Sure, she’d like you to think that, but she’s not a bad person!”

Maleficent had the sudden and intense urge to go kick a puppy. She was rotten to her core and the girl needed to remember that.

“It still amuses me that you fell for it, child,” she said, curling her lip. “I hate you just as much as these little bleeding-hearts that took you in when your parents got tired of you.”

The aunts gasped, shocked silent. Aurora reared back as if stung. Good. “Y-You don’t mean that. Why are you acting like this?”

“I’ve gotten bored with you. Go on, go home, little girl,” Maleficent said, enjoying the look of confused pain on Aurora’s face.

Merryweather rolled up her sleeves.

Aurora scowled suddenly. Ah, that viper temper. She wanted to see the huffy, girlish way Aurora got when she was offended.

“You’re a liar,” the girl said.

“Just finding out now?” Maleficent purred.

Flora found her voice. “You horrible, vile--”

“Oh, shut up, Aunt Flora, let me get one word in,” Aurora rolled her eyes. She pulled away from Fauna and side-stepped Fauna and Merryweather, ignoring their shocked gaping. “I’m sorry you’ve got to see her when she’d being childish, aunts. Usually she’s at least civil, she really is.”

What. “Do not test me, child--”

“Shut up, Mal, you’re making an idiot of yourself,” Aurora said, taking her arm forcibly. Maleficent had the abrupt sensation that she was staring, flabbergasted. She put on her fiercest expression and hissed at the girl.

“How dare you--”

Aurora rolled her eyes, looking at her stunned, staring aunts. “Listen, we’ll talk about this later. We’re in the middle of a conversation. I’ll see you guys tomorrow for dinner. Bye.”

Aurora began to move forward and tugged on Maleficent’s arm. She fully intended to break away and say something horribly cutting, but Aurora was keeping up with her athlete’s body and dragged her, with the force of shock, along several meters.

“You despicable little brat!” she nearly shouted, when they turned the corner.

“I wouldn’t have to be a brat if you weren’t being a moron,” Aurora exclaimed, obviously annoyed. “What were you trying to pull, anyway? Anyone who knew you could see right through it!”

That was the whole issue! She didn’t particularly want anyone to know her!

“You made me look like a fool!” Maleficent thundered.  

“Oh, you did it to yourself. Now. Where were we?”

Maleficent broke away from her and marched across the street, determined to find her own way back home and never so much as think about that contemptible little idiot ever again.

It lasted until Sunday, when Aurora sat down at their table and started talking nonsense about opera. She was wrong about Wagner and Maleficent couldn’t ignore it and let it go.

She didn’t forgive her, though. No.

\--

“I graduate in four days,” Aurora said, almost shaking out of her skin. “And they’re asked me to sing the school song.”

“How nice,” Maleficent drawled, turning the page.

It was nice. Maleficent had given her no encouragement whatsoever in her latest endeavors regarding theater internships. She had no patience for the arts, as a general rule, and he’d never quite gotten over the opinion that the girl was throwing her life away, chasing something as silly as singing.

She’d experienced the unfamiliar sensation of being totally wrong when Aurora had glowingly announced that they were allowing her to perform with the metropolitan opera. She’d known the girl sang beautifully, but not that beautifully.

Maleficent had categorically refused to attend, even when Aurora had begged and given her teary-eyed looks.

She bought a box seat on her own time and watched from one of the dark alcoves, feeling not unlike the Phantom of the Opera. Too obsessed, too pathetic.

Sending her a spray of Aconitum, hydrangeas, poppies, and rainflowers was beyond the pale. Maleficent was certain she’d tipped her hand and done something horribly stupid, until she realized that the girl would never bother to look up the meanings and would simply enjoy the poisonous bouquet from an unknown admirer.

She certainly would’ve said something about it, otherwise. Rainflowers indeed...

“You’re coming, aren’t you?”

“For the ninth time, yes,” she replied. She’d been swindled into it. She’d managed to avoid appearing at performances up until now, but she was pretty well shanghaied on this one. She half-expected that the girl would try to kidnap her if she didn’t come willingly. “But not the after-party.” 

“Yes, the after-party,” Aurora said, sticking out her chin pugnaciously. “Aunt Flora says she’s forgiven you--”

“Lucky me.”

“--and Aunt Fauna even calculated for you when she ordered the food. She wants you to come, anyway. She thinks it would be nice to make friends again.”

“I don’t want to be her friend.”

“Please?”

Maleficent ignored her. She had a grave suspicion that the girl knew that she only did that when she didn’t have an argument lined up.

“My aunts are trying to be secretive,” Aurora said. “They think I don’t know that they’ve bought me graduation presents.”

“Oh yes,” Maleficent drawled. “Presents. I suppose you’ll expect one from me?”

“Maybe just a nice wish?”

“May you die young and leave a beautiful corpse,” she said. Aurora wrinkled her nose when she smiled.

“A real wish.”

Maleficent rolled her eyes.

\--

She found herself at the after-party, standing in the corner of the room and glowering at anyone that tried to get between her and her glass of champagne. Fauna had been enormously accommodating, even though the others were less than charmed. Merryweather looked like she wanted to fight and was knocking back her alcohol at a steady rate, looking ready to brawl. Flora was busy pretending that Maleficent wasn’t there.

Aurora didn’t look any more or less radiant than usual, to be quite honest. She was always beautiful, of course, whether happy or sad. Even now, when she was practically buzzing with joy, Maleficent couldn’t help but think that she looked quite the same as always.

The girl all-but skipped over to her, smiling at her. “Mal! The time has come for you to eat your words!”

Maleficent felt her heart throb far too hard. She was always beautiful, but now, four years older, four years smarter, on her way to being almost tolerably-educated...and after that sparkling debut in the metropolitan theater...

Maybe she could reach out and touch her now, Maleficent thought. The girl was perfectly legal, and experienced enough to make her own decisions. Maleficent had made her better. She was quite perfect. And there was no weakness in it, no shame now. The age difference wasn’t as great, was it?

She scowled at herself. Yes, it was. And it was shameful, and weak--she didn’t know what power the girl had over her, to make her act this way. She would not submit to it. She would not degrade herself like this. The girl was the same as she ever was, and she was off-limits.

“I suppose I do,” Maleficent said coolly, sipping her drink. “You did indeed complete an undergraduate degree. Perhaps you’d like a parade?”

Aurora laughed and offered Maleficent a slice of cake, unwilling to be deterred. “Here. Maybe a little sugar will loosen the grip of that sour lemon you’ve been sucking on since infancy,” she said.

She didn’t even bother to think of how she should gut the girl for that kind of language. Maleficent took the plate, looking skeptically at its contents. She could almost smell the diabetes. “Fauna’s handiwork, I presume?”

“Only the finest,” Aurora said, with just the slightest hint of sarcasm.

Maleficent hummed quietly to herself and discreetly placed the cake on the table beside her. “I have a gift for you,” she said. “Or rather, two. But you can only choose one.”

“Well, that’s not at all sporting,” Aurora said, though her blue eyes were alight with challenge. “But I’ll play the game. What are the gifts?”

Maleficent couldn’t help but feel silly. This was all terribly elaborate, and obvious, and nothing shy of obsessive. She reached into her jacket pocket and retrieved a cigar.

Smirking, Aurora reached into her cleavage and retrieved, to Maleficent’s slight astonishment, a match. She struck it on her shoe. “I can’t tell you how much I’d like to join you.”

Maleficent puffed on her smoke, taking a slow and reassuring breath. She reached into the pockets of her coat, and, smoke whirling around her face, offered them to Aurora. One the size of a ring box, the other the size of a necklace box.

Aurora looked at them. “Can I peek?”

“No,” Maleficent said. “You must choose sight unseen.” 

“Unfair!”

“Remember to whom you are talking, bratling,” Maleficent murmured.

Aurora tapped one finger against her lips, before carefully reaching out for the larger box. Maleficent exhaled, relieved even as something strange and small that had been infesting her chest writhed and died quietly. She felt more peaceful, now that a choice was made.

“Good,” she said quietly. She pocketed the ring box and opened the other. Inside was a string of pale pearls, gleaming and milky against the black velvet. “A string of pearls fit for a princess.”

“Will you put it on me?” Aurora asked, her voice too soft for a party, for a conversation between two people who were rightfully opponents.

“I will not,” Maleficent said quietly. Aurora sighed and took up the pearls. Holding her hair wadded in one hand, she awkwardly attempted to clasp the necklace around her throat.

At last Maleficent reached out and completed the clip.

“Very suitable,” she said, looking at the perfect little stars spread across the pillow of flesh that covered the girl’s chest. They looked lovely together, smooth skin and smooth pearls.

A fine choice.

“What was the other present?” Aurora asked.

“Nothing,” Maleficent said. “An empty box.” 

“You don’t expect me to believe that, do you, Mal?” Aurora murmured, her lifted eyebrow and skeptical tone breaking this uncanny spell. Her kitten had claws, after all.

Maleficent rolled her eyes and withdrew the box, tossing it carelessly into the girl’s hands. Aurora popped it open and stared.

Maleficent didn’t need to look to know what it was. It was cheap, costume jewelry, a shiny, blood-red bit of paste carved to imitate a rose. It was held on a ring designed to look like barbed wire, held in place by jagged, harmless points and twists. Maleficent had rigorously tested it to make sure the girl couldn’t actually harm herself while wearing it.

Aurora let out a little gasp and covered her mouth, and Maleficent blew a smoke ring and wondered when she’d gone so horribly, horribly soft.

“I...Mal...”

“Say nothing,” she said, embarrassed.

“Mal, listen to me...I know you said I could only have one...”

“Give it back,” Maleficent said, icy.

“Only I’m singing Ulrica’s part later in the month. The sorceress, you know? And...Mal, it would be perfect for my costume,” Aurora said.

Maleficent could smell a swindle when one came her way. The girl was going to keep the ring, a too-clear, too devastating expression of that little reanimated thing that was bumped around in her chest with no allowance for dignity or pride.

“Greedy,” she said quietly. Aurora grinned.

“Can you blame me? It’s beautiful.”

“Keep it,” Maleficent said, throwing her hand in an expression of disgust. “You selfish little child.”

Aurora smiled and put the ring on. Maleficent had to admit that it did look good, quite sinister and imposing on her small, pretty hand.

“Ulrica, then?” she asked, lifting a dark eyebrow.

“I’m excited. It’s a big role. Verdi gives her some great music.”

“Hmm,” Maleficent said. “No one can say I’m not fond of dark magic.”

“I get a cauldron and a staff and everything,” Aurora said encouraging. “A slinky black dress, too.”

“I might stop in,” Maleficent said noncommittally. “If the reviews are good.”

Aurora grinned.

As Maleficent left for the night, she took a deep drag on her cigar and let the girl kiss her on the cheek. It was a soft and warm kiss, her lipstick pink and creamy against Maleficent’s olive skin. Maleficent nodded and turned away, walking towards her car, getting in, and driving away without a backward glance.

So maybe she was going a little soft, somewhere deep inside. As long as she didn’t act on it, she’d be fine.

No one else had to know there was a rose underneath all the thorns. That could be their secret.


End file.
